GREEN ARROW #24 DC COMICS
The Fresh Water Kills storyline comes to a close and honestly, I’m glad. This tale seems to have been set to push all the right Green Arrow buttons. A villain who may or not be a villain. A link back to Oliver Queen’s business past. An enviromental disaster … we all know that GA is a sucker for a good cause. And an underlying theme of family. Family like that of the people of Fresh Water, Green Arrow’s own family, heck even the family of the people behind the disaster. And yet somehow, it missed the mark. And this final chapter is the perfect example of it. Too neat and tidy which the gritty world that a story like this takes place would never be. The killer is in prison but is content with Oliver setting up an organization to revamp the Clear Water neighborhood. A detective that has suspicions about Queen but seem to lose interest after Oliver flirts with her. Green Arrow pays a late-night visit to the main corporate greedhead at the chemical company and forcefully recommends he play ball. Then its home for the night for dinner and some chili even if Connor made it wrong. Everything wrapped up in a neat little bow. Lots of rather unbelievable exposition all with a fake smiley face plastered on it. 6 out of 10 Grahams.
MR. TERRIFIC YEAR ONE #1 DC COMICS
A deep dark dive into the past of the current Mr. Terrific. With his wife and child dead, genius Michael Holt has hidden himself away from life. But even grieving and lost, his inventive mind keeps working. A electronic skeleton key, the beginnings of the T-sphere, a pretty cool suped-up car all reside in his workshop. Writer Al Letson keeps the pace moving forward at a good pace. Unfortuantely, this Year One mini-series has direct ties to the All In schenanigans, Interesting but knowing that it will all end in some sort of key fact for the All In storyline kind of dimmed the lights on it. 6 out of 10 Grahams.
METAMORPHO THE ELEMENT MAN #6 DC COMICS
I had planned on skipping a review for this final issue but then I flipped through it! I mean, Holy Cow! A Prince Ra-Man cameo on the splash page! (Google search him, you troglodytes!) The most current version of Staggium is reintorduced into the DC Universe! The Earth is saved as Rex Mason uses the combined knowledge of the Metamorphos to recreate the sun! And as writer Al Ewing is a man after my own heart, how about a few classic references? How about … Spacehawk! Doom Patrol! Newsboy Legion! Sonic Disruptors! Jason’s Quest! Batman Jr! And in classic Silver Age cliffhangers, it’s left us, the readers to determine the fate of the Element Man! As the creative team demands we write to DC Comics for more adventures! And trust me, if they had given out the address, I certainly would be writing. Perhaps, they did? Any one check out the masthead on the last page? I’m going for it! 10 out of 10 Grahams.
ALL NEW COLLECTOR’S EDITION #58
DC throws in a reminder of the glory they had in the early 1970’s with this over-sized edition from 1972! For good or ill, DC Comics started licencing the Fawcett characters the same year. (Want a good rabbit hole to duck down some lazy afternoon? Google search DC Fawcett lawsuit!) But ignoring that whole thing for this review, this was a time period where DC was all in on different dimension team-ups. Earth 1, Earth 2, Earth 3, Earth X, Earth S, etc, etc. And everyone’s favorite editor, Julius (Ahh, Bean Soup!) Schwartz had assembled his best for this one. A creative team featuring the likes of Gerry Conway, Rich Buckler, and Dick Giordano! Wow! And we are off to the races immediately as former good scientist Karmang has gone evil with sorcerery summons and ensaves both Black Adam and the Sand Superman (I swear, these are all real things!) But in all honesty, both villains seem to give up a little too easily for my tastes. Two Earth are on a collision course and the only ones to help are … Super girl and Mary Marvel?! Oh, and did I mention that our main baddie is a white Martian before white Martians were a big thing! This one is a choatic bundle of fun even if it won’t fit in you comic box. 10 out of 10 Grahams.